Friday, September 18, 2009

Last night @ The Greek Theater the Yeah Yeah Yeah's performed with Kim and Kelly Deal's, the Breeders, to a sold out audience, promoting the YYY's latest album 'It's Blitz!'! Hope most of you Musicbleepers are there, and if you are, enjoy! If you are like me, and was unable to attend, you can catch them in the following clip from the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brian from Wednesday nights show:

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Honey-voiced songstress Sara Lov will perform her intimate, sparse compositions tonight at The Troubadour as she tours the country opening for longtime friend and collaborator Sea Wolf. Lov’s recently-released debut solo LP, Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming (August 25 on Filter US Recordings) has been described by LA Weekly as, “a melodic musical diary enriched with swaying string sections (‘Fountain’) and tinkling toy pianos (‘Touched’).” Produced by Zac Rae (Fiona Apple, Annie Lennox, My Brightest Diamond) and mixed by Darrell Thorp (Radiohead, Beck), the songs on Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming deftly toe the line between dark and angelic.

The former lead singer of the dream-pop duo Devics, Lov’s foray into a solo career allowed her to experiment, resulting in songs she self-described as "simple and sad with a shot of Scotch." For this tour Lov will be showcasing her unmistakable, "irresistibly seductive" voice (NPR), as she will perform armed with just her voice, a guitar, and a vintage vinyl record player handling the backing tracks.

If you can, get over to the Troubadour tonight and check her out! We will be there, and we'll have a full report coming soon.

Brendan Benson was masterful at creating power pop before he joined Jack White as a founding member of The Raconteurs. Now, a larger audience will get to hear his solo work. His fourth solo recording is getting critical acclaim and you get a taste on Morning Becomes Eclectic.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Decemberists’ album The Hazards of Love was released by EMI’s Capitol Records in March to rave reviews with NPR calling the album an “epic adventure” and SPIN writing that it “yields spectacular sparks,” adding that it contains “some of the snarliest, bluesiest, rockingest moments in The Decemberists’ catalog.” The raves continued when the band hit the road for their “A Short Fazed Hovel” tour with Pitchfork calling the live performance “a triumph,” The Wall Street Journal declaring it “a remarkable experience,” and New York Magazine naming it the “Indie Rock Show of the Year.”

On October 19, The Decemberists will unveil Here Come The Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized, a special project that takes their ambitious and acclaimed song cycle to new heights for it’s final American performance at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles. This unique live experience will feature The Decemberists in collaboration with four filmmakers—Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka and Santa Maria—each of whom have created animation to accompany a section of the music. Presented in association with Flux, the event will also be a benefit for The GRAMMY Foundation®’s Grammy In The Schools® music education programs for high school students.

At Royce Hall, The Decemberists will perform the entire piece synchronized with the animation, as well as an additional second set of older and newer material. A limited presale will begin at 10:00am PT on Wednesday, September 16 at http://www.decemberists.tickets.musictoday.com. General tickets will go on sale on Friday, September 18. The band will also kick off the final leg of their “A Short Fazed Hovel” tour this week.

The Brazilian Girls, who Variety declares “the only dance band that matters,” are returning for their first tour dates of 2009. They will perform in select cities throughout the U.S. with stops in New York, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles. Their latest album, New York City, was nominated for a Grammy and received critical acclaim upon its release, with The New York Times calling it “…a benediction, or a prayer, from an analog limbo,” and Billboard praising “a set as internationally diverse as the Big Apple itself.” Following the shows, the Brazilian Girls will continue working on their new album, set for release in 2010.

The Brazilian Girls, consisting of Sabina Sciubba (vocals), Didi Gutman (keyboards) and Aaron Johnston (drums), have been involved in several projects over the last year. Sciubba and Gutman co-wrote several songs for renowned Senegalese musician Baaba Maal’s latest album Television and performed with him throughout Europe. In addition, Gutman co-wrote and produced several tracks for the forthcoming Bebel Gilberto album All In One due out September 29 on Verve Forecast. Drummer Aaron Johnston has busied himself touring with the Chris Berry Trio. Notably, Gutman and Johnston have been hard at work on a side project called Re:Redux, playing Lollapalooza and supporting Thievery Corporation.

I am just beside myself, and a little shocked, but 2009 marks the 20th anniversary of the Pixie"s album "Doolittle". One of their bests. One of their finests. This album, and band, still hold strong today, which provides proof of why that have been such an influential band to so many artists today; they have revolutionized music in so many ways. To celebrate their masterpiece, 'Doolittle', they are doing a small US tour performing this album live, from start to finish. They are making a stop here in Hollywood, November 4th and 5th, both nights at the new Hollywood Palladium. If it's not yet sold out, you should definitely by tickets to this limited event. More to come as we near this event, plus a review and photos of this show!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Keeping in line with their music's affection for cinematic landscapes and elaborate narratives, LA music collective, Sea Wolf, has released White Water, White Bloom Vol 1, the first in a series of exclusive webisodes.

Vol 1 unfolds the story behind lead single, "Wicked Blood". As Alex Church discusses his college years at NYU and having to adapt his simple California roots with the upper crust New York state of mind, the song's personal anecdotes appear more clear and utimately endearing.

Empire of the Sun is back with a brand new insanely awesome video for their single, "Without You." I really like this band - it sucks to hear that they are being sued over a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo. I mean, I'm sure it's not mumbo jumbo to some, but it is to me... Can't we all just get along? Doesn't music makes the people come together...?

LIGHTS, the Toronto singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist crafts her own brand of sparkling, otherworldly synth-pop thanks to her knack for the keytar and upbeat melodies. With songs that have already garnered a collective 15 million plays on Myspace, LIGHTS was also awarded the 2009 Juno (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award) for New Artist of the Year.

Her first full collection of music, The Listening, which drops October 6th via Warner Bros. Records, expands on her sound, which she calls “inter-galactic electro” and describes as “simple lyrics juxtaposed with sounds harvested from the far reaches of my alternate universe.” The album includes a few songs already familiar to die-hard LIGHTS fans, as well as plenty of new material including the first single, "Saviour," a propulsive pop anthem that represents her charming musical essence.